A Brief History On October 16, 2019, we take a critical look back at last night’s Democratic Presidential Debate among the 12 major candidates still remaining in the race for the Democratic nomination for President. (Click link for full transcript.) No earthshaking news this time, and no candidate was either blown out of contention or latched onto a rocket of success in the next poll, but we believe there were some definite winners and losers. Digging Deeper Loser, Senator Elizabeth Warren. As the co-front runner this time around, she was not immune to attacks from the other candidates, though the…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On October 15, 1910, the non-rigid airship, America, set off from Atlantic City, New Jersey on the first attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean by humans in a powered aircraft. After a flight of over 1300 miles, not all in the right direction, and after a harrowing 71 hours of flight, the crew of 5 managed to signal a ship passing below them and along with their cat, entered the lifeboat carried aboard the airship and abandoned the ill fated blimp, watching it drift away never to be seen again. Digging Deeper The “genius” behind the record…
A Brief History On October 12, 1654, the Dutch city of Delft was the scene of a spectacular tragedy when a large gunpowder storehouse exploded, destroying much of the city and killing over 100 people. Another 1000+ people were injured. The incident is remembered as “The Delft Explosion” or “The Delft Thunderclap,” and was certainly not a unique accident concerning gunpowder. Digging Deeper The Delft Explosion was precipitated by the caretaker of the gunpowder magazine (the term used for a powder storehouse), Cornelis Soetens, went to test a sample of the gunpowder. Exactly what the ill fated man did is…
A Brief History On October 11, 1910, with aviation still in its infancy, President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt took a flight in a Wright Brothers airplane piloted by Archibald Hoxsey, a former auto mechanic from Illinois. The flight, which took place near St. Louis, Missouri, was the first time an American President had ever flown in an airplane, starting a long tradition of US Presidents flying to vacations, international meetings, campaign events, and whatever other reason the Executive needs to travel. Digging Deeper Oddly enough, Roosevelt’s flight was not the first ever by a national head of state, as the Tsar…
A Brief History On October 10, 1933, a United Airlines Boeing 247 airliner was blown out of the sky over Chesterton, Indiana, the first known instance of an airliner being deliberately taken down by a bomb. On this deadly flight, only 7 people died, the 3 crew members and the 4 passengers. (Not a misprint, there were only 4 passengers on the then state of the art twin engine airliner!) Apparently, terrorists and assassins have also embraced the idea of blowing up airliners to kill their target person or persons or to make their point, because in the years since…